Alexander Zizka

PhD student

Research

PhD Project During my Phd studies at the Antonelli lab, I perform statistical comparisons between South America and Africa to understand the mechanisms causing the fascinating diversity of life in the Neotropics. Given their shared Gondwana origin, I try to understand the striking differences in biodiversity between the two continents as an “evolutionary experiment”. To understand this dichotomy, I combine cross-taxonomic analyses of large scale biodiversity patterns (including plants and animals) with the analysis of niche evolution, ancestral area reconstruction and diversification rate analyses in focal plant groups.